This invention relates to a sliding lifting roof for a motor vehicle.
Such a roof is known in which a rigid sliding cover is guided with front and rear guide shoes on guide rails fixed laterally in the roof opening, is driven by compressively rigidly guided cables acting on the rear guide shoes, is pivotably mounted by means of swivel bearings fitted to the front guide shoes about a horizontal axis at right angles to the sliding direction and equipped along its lateral edges with guide links fixed thereto. Guide pins fitted to the rear guide shoes engage in the guide links and, in the vicinity of the trailing edge of the sliding cover, further facing guide shoes on both sides are displaceably guided on guide rails and firmly interconnected by a water deflector underpinning the cover trailing edge and follow the cover displacement by articulation on the sliding cover. The deflector has a roughly upwardly open U-profile shape and terminates on both sides with outlet openings above water draining channels.
In the case of such a known sliding lifting roof (German Patent No. 25 32 187), when the sliding cover is open, there is a risk that precipitation or washing water on the rear, fixed roof surface will not or will not completely pass into the water deflector when the vehicle is subject to braking and instead is thrown over the same into the vehicle interior.
For solving this known problem, it has already been proposed (DE-OS 34 42 599) to link the water channel with a tilting device, which on opening the cover brings the water channel into an inclined position such that the front edge of the channel forms a splash guard projecting upwards over the rear edge of the roof opening. When the vehicle brakes, water which has collected on the rear, fixed roof surface is intended to strike the splash guard and in this way pass into the water deflector, from where it is passed in conventional manner to the lateral water channels.
In this known construction of a sliding lifting roof, it is consequently necessary to provide a complicated tilting device, which ensures that on opening the cover the water deflector is brought into the desired inclined position. In the upper part of the front edge of the water deflector, the splash guard comprises a flexible splash guard strip, which simultaneously is intended to seal against the underside of the sliding cover when the latter is closed. The flexibility of the splash guard strip necessary for these reasons can, when travelling, lead to vibrations of the strip and therefore to undesired humming noises. In addition, the known arrangement is only effective if the water quantity to be trapped is relatively small. By tilting the water deflector into an inclined position, the water absorption cross-section of said deflector is significantly reduced. If there is so much water on the rear, fixed roof surface that the absorption and draining capacity of the water deflector is exhausted, there is a risk of the excess water passing as a surge over the flexible splash guard strip. The latter process is assisted by the flexibility of said splash guard strip, which during the braking process is exposed to a significant water pressure through the forwardly flowing water. In this known arrangement, there is also an overflow risk in the outer, lateral areas of the water deflector if the water which has collected therein cannot pass sufficiently rapidly into the lateral water channels. Thus, excess water can pass out of the lateral regions into the vehicle interior, particularly as the flexible splash guard strip in said regions can either no longer project adequately far upwards over the rear edge of the roof opening, or in fact terminates before the lateral edges of the roof opening.